Saturday, June 20, 2009

Isn't the NYT's Roger Cohen a bit old for this?

The NYT's Roger Cohen was criticized a few month's for a relatively positive spin on Iranian culture and politics, particularly claims that Iran was not predictably anti-semitic. He was portrayed by some as naive, removed from the realities of the Iranian street.

... I did what I could and he said, “We are with you” in English and with my colleague we tumbled into a dead end — Tehran is full of them — running from the searing gas and police. I gasped and fell through a door into an apartment building where somebody had lit a small fire in a dish to relieve the stinging.

There were about 20 of us gathered there, eyes running, hearts racing. A 19-year-old student was nursing his left leg, struck by a militiaman with an electric-shock-delivering baton. “No way we are turning back,” said a friend of his as he massaged that wounded leg."...